Boating in Florida/Salt Water - What's It like?

The flip side, most days are like today, beautiful. And you end up sitting in your office all day hoping the weather holds out for the weekend.
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20 Year old boat that has been in salt water for 19 of those 20 years and still looks like new... Of course, the boathouse helps for the past 11+ years but before that So. Cal. in the sun...
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Also, sometimes bad boating in portions of may and September. We have these “love bugs” which come out in droves. Went to Longboat Key Resort last year in May, the pool bar was covered in Love bugs and they had to close. We ordered drinks from inside, but by the time I walked from the bar to poolside, I had a bug in each drink.
Mosquitos and no see-ums at dusk/dawn near the undeveloped beaches. We were at Caladesi island one year, very remote, no cars allowed, and each morning and evening we had to go inside or you get eaten alive by the no see-ums.
I’ll leave the red tide and the algae from Okeechobee for the other threads.
 
Despite all the negatives, we moved to NW Fla about 30 years ago on a part time basis. Then, eventually sold all our lake boats and toys and ended up with a 450DA on the coast because we are still finding new and interesting things to see and do on the boat in this environment. I don't think I'd ever be happy boating on a lake again.
 
fwebster said:
Despite all the negatives, we moved to NW Fla about 30 years ago on a part time basis. Then, eventually sold all our lake boats and toys and ended up with a 450DA on the coast because we are still finding new and interesting things to see and do on the boat in this environment. I don't think I'd ever be happy boating on a lake again.
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Interesting. I guess a good question would be, would could you do boating in Florida or the ocean that you couldn't do on the Great Lakes (boating all year around doesn't count)?
 
For sure!

I am boating in t-shirt and shorts in Oct, Nov, Dec, early Jan, March and April and that isn’t likely on the Great Lakes.

We are in NW Fla and are on the water nearly ever day we are in Florida, 12 months a year.

I think the biggest difference is the wide variety of the types of environment and the wildlife.
 
It's 9:30 am right now down in Miami, and 74 degrees. In February! I live in Atlanta, but boat for a week a month down in Miami. Heading back down in 4 days! As soon as last kid goes off to college in a couple of years, I will be in Miami most of the time. Year round boating is the best.
 
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Are people back to boating in the Pan Handle following the hurricane? Are the marinas rebuilt?
 
midexp said:
Interesting. I guess a good question would be, would could you do boating in Florida or the ocean that you couldn't do on the Great Lakes (boating all year around doesn't count)?
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plenty of "sheltered" boating options - even if its blowing 25+ and the ocean is kicked up there is a ton to do in the intracoastal waters....the water in the southern and western cruising grounds of florida is clear and warm (way warmer than what passes as warm up north in the summer)......plenty of sand bars and islands to play on......and if thats not enough, the Bahamas are as little as 50 miles away!

I also find service far easier to get and way cheaper down there.
 
sbw1 said:
View attachment 64945 Are people back to boating in the Pan Handle following the hurricane? Are the marinas rebuilt?
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Most of us hard heads have been back on water since about the first of November..... if our slips survived the storm. It took our marina about 2 weeks to get power, water and broken pilings back in order, so our place has been in operation, but they have had to rebuild support functions like the fuel dock, pump out station, mechanics shop, etc. Five other marinas were completely destroyed and it has been a struggle for them to remove sunken boats, piers, broken pilings and then rebuild. The recovery is well under way and the economic impact has been a bit different that you might imagine.

New boat sales in the 24-34 ft center console type boats is booming because most people who lost larger cruisers are looking for dry stack storage boats. The other interesting thing is that there is a huge demand for nice clean used boats in the 34 to 50 ft class. And, since so many were destroyed, there are no avaliable slips within 100 miles of Panama city Beach.
 
fwebster said:
Most of us hard heads have been back on water since about the first of November..... if our slips survived the storm. It took our marina about 2 weeks to get power, water and broken pilings back in order, so our place has been in operation, but they have had to rebuild support functions like the fuel dock, pump out station, mechanics shop, etc. Five other marinas were completely destroyed and it has been a struggle for them to remove sunken boats, piers, broken pilings and then rebuild. The recovery is well under way and the economic impact has been a bit different that you might imagine.

New boat sales in the 24-34 ft center console type boats is booming because most people who lost larger cruisers are looking for dry stack storage boats. The other interesting thing is that there is a huge demand for nice clean used boats in the 34 to 50 ft class. And, since so many were destroyed, there are no avaliable slips within 100 miles of Panama city Beach.
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Frank, what you said about huge demand for 34-50' boats there, that's one reason it's so hard finding ones up here. And our marinas are fairly full as well (no more cheap wells).

Also, does everyone pull their boats out and strap them down when a hurricane comes? Or do you just tie up tight in the well and hope for the best? Insurance has got to be expensive. I pay about $800 for my 99 40' Sundancer. Guessing it's way more down there?
 
Ididntdoit said:
plenty of "sheltered" boating options - even if its blowing 25+ and the ocean is kicked up there is a ton to do in the intracoastal waters....the water in the southern and western cruising grounds of florida is clear and warm (way warmer than what passes as warm up north in the summer)......plenty of sand bars and islands to play on......and if thats not enough, the Bahamas are as little as 50 miles away!

I also find service far easier to get and way cheaper down there.
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Yes the Bahamas has got to be a great trip. And only about 2 hours away.
 
Our yearly insurance bill for the 2002 360 Sundancer is $1500.

We center our boat in the canal during hurricanes. Time honored practice. I noticed from helicopter news shots that there were boats done that way in/near Mexico Beach.
 
midexp said:
Frank, ....................


Also, does everyone pull their boats out and strap them down when a hurricane comes? Or do you just tie up tight in the well and hope for the best? Insurance has got to be expensive. I pay about $800 for my 99 40' Sundancer. Guessing it's way more down there?
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My insurance is about 3X that but it is for 12 months a year coverage with no layup period. It is the price we pay for boating in paradise!

Everyone should have a hurricane plan, but unfortunately (up until now!) most owners didn't give storms a thought until a named storm had a line running from it to their boat on the weather channel graphics and at that point it is too late to secure a haul out spot. Water front property in Florida is too expensive to tie up a boat yard size plot of land with a boat yard and developers long ago snapped up large acreages and covered them with condos. Most folks without a plan, either tied the boats up in their slips as best they could or ran for it by running the boats up a creek or river and tied them off to trees or ran them as far away from the storm as possible. Either approach is risky because these storms tend to wander and strengthen just before they make land fall. We have 7 marinas in PC and 4 of them were completely destroyed and every boat left in them was lost.

Our marina is Treasure Island Marina located on Grand Lagoon. It is professionally managed and privately owned and we do have a hurricane plan. It is simple.....the management makes a decision on hauling out every boat in the marina or not. The over riding principle is to protect the docks and slips from the damage caused by boat left in the water so we have something to come back to after the storm. They haul every boat out of the water and block them up in the parking lot which is asphalt and "the high ground"; the last 12 go inside 2 large dry stack storage barns built for 150 mph wind loads. The boats are blocked up on the concrete in the middle between the stacks of smaller boats in racks. My boat was in the newest barn in position #4 and it didn't even get rained on. We had no total losses and a hand full of insurance claims caused by blowing debris, mostly from the marina next door which was destroyed. Our docks and power /water survived in tact and our boat was back in the water in a week. The marina did get significant damage (to 1980 vintage buildings with rusted beams and perlings that should have been replaced years ago) but they were open and launching boats within 2 weeks. This isn't a free service.....cost is averaged and runs about $1000, but the marina has 4 licensed captains on staff in service and management and they take as good care of my boat as I do. There is no other way I could leave a boat like mine and live 450 miles inland a good part of the year.......I get a courtesy call when they decide to haul boats for a storm, I don't have to make a decision or do anything but watch the weather online (and worry). If I am in town, I usually help the guys move the boats and haul and block them up, but we were under an evacuation order for this storm and I had to get off the beach or ride out the storm across the street from the beach. Cat 4 or low 5, wandering over a 100 mile wide swath..? No thanks....so we loaded up the dogs and headed to Tennessee. A lot of people lost a lot during this storm but we were lucky and blessed to sustain no damage to either the boat or the house.
 
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